Janet Hessling retired in 2022, closing Hessling Conservation LLC in Durham NC, which she had founded in 2009. From 1998-2009, she was a freelance mural conservator. She has treated murals around the country by such 20th century artists as Aaron Douglas, Pietro Lazzari, Francis Kughler, Carlo Ciampaglia, Dean Cornwell, Eugene Savage, Thomas Hart Benton, Kenyon Cox, Robert Grafton, and Edwin Blashfield, sometimes working with large conservation teams. As Interim Director of Field Services for the Upper Midwest Conservation Association in 2002, she surveyed collections and developed collection care plans for museums in several states. She was the first conservator for Regional Conservation Services at the North Carolina Museum of Art from 1984 until 1998, establishing the museum as a major conservation resource for institutions in the Southeast.
Jan is also an experienced speaker and teacher, presenting programs about conservation and preservation to professional groups and general adult and youth audiences. She has taught continuing education courses and professional seminars at Meredith College and North Carolina State University. She has served on the board of Conservators in Private Practice as Secretary and webmaster.
She holds a BA in Liberal Studies from the University of Notre Dame (1974), an MA in Art History with Certificate of Advanced Study in Art Conservation from the Garman Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State College (1984) and a Certificate in Cultural Resources Management from Meredith College, Raleigh, North Carolina.